Fans, Personalization, and Sports Journalism

For all who are in COMM 415- Sports Information, I found some aspects quite interesting of our week 4 external reading source. The topic is the path of the future with sports broadcasting innovations. (Deutsch, Teller, Harwood, & Deweese, 2019, p.8) I found this section of the reading incredibly intriguing.

An interesting component is customization of the fans experience and how it has recently become popular. One great example of this is the addition of NFL RedZone. This is a channel fans can pay for to view the most “exciting” parts of the game. Essentially, while multiple NFL games are played on Sunday, the fan can now watch whenever a team is within 20 yards of the endzone. This is what they call the RedZone. It is here where we see most of the scoring take place in NFL football games.

NFL RedZone appears to be just the beginning of fans personalizing their experience to meet their wants/needs. A new form is through augmented reality (AR). It has been shown that more than 40% of fans indicated that the presence of real-time augment reality (AR) stats on-screen would increase their likelihood to watch, and more than 54% of fans indicated that VR front-row seats would increase their likelihood to watch a game. (Deutsch, Teller, Harwood, & Deweese, 2019, p.8) My question towards you is since we know fans expectations have increased in recent years, will this addition of new technology (Augment Reality), change the way sports journalism is approached?

Now that we know sports journalism is becoming much more technology reliant, current sports journalists must adapt, and future ones must understand the skills to succeed. I do not follow professional baseball extensively, but I do know that Managers in todays game make many decisions based on analytics. I think this is also true for sports journalists. In sports, statistics mean everything, which makes data driven journalism important. This creates a strong need for numerically savvy journalists who can filter data, process, and analyze it, and present information in clear and meaningful ways. (Manahan, 2015, n.p.) With this said, it is still essential to analyze and present this data in interesting ways. Fans are not looking for a robot to just list stats. There needs to be strong leads and use of keywords like “first”, “biggest”, “only”, and “most”. (Gisondi, 2018, p. 11-12) You must be able to use these numbers and make an interesting story. Another key point from the reading was to look for angles; storylines that make fans who watched the game, want to revisit through your eyes. This is where sports journalism and being a fan differ. You are looking beyond the spectacle of the game. Being able to understand background information, key participants, and what makes this specific game unique are all crucial elements of a sports journalists work.

With all of this said, I would like to end with one more question for all sports journalists out there. How will you combine analytics and intriguing writing to craft great stories? I personally feel this will be the biggest challenge facing future sports journalists.

Work Cited:

Deutsch, A., Teller, L., Harwood, K., & Deweese, C. (2019). The future of sports broadcasting: Enhancing digital fan engagement. Retrieved February 02, 2021, from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/technology-media-telecommunications/us-enhancing-digital-fan-engagement.pdf#:~:text=The%20future%20of%20sports%20broadcasting:%20Enhancing%20digital%20fan,market%20activity.%20In%20April%202018,%20ESPN%20launched%20its

Gisondi, J. (2018). Field guide to covering sports. In Field guide to covering sports (pp. 11-12). London: Sage.

Manahan, M. (2015, February 24). The future of sports journalism in a technologically driven world. Retrieved February 02, 2021, from https://www.sporttechie.com/the-future-of-sports-journalism-in-a-technologically-driven-world/